Take a stand! LotR vs. GoT

[Morkul]

I'm not disagreeing with your view on the writers you mentioned, but how are you defining heroic fantasy there? There are stories I would place there that are thousands of years old.

Heroic Fantasy based in a world other than our own. William Morris wrote the first heroic fantasy based in another world. Older heroic fantasies were based somewhere in our world. when i speak of heroic fantasy, i am excluding things like Alice in Wonderland, which is fantasy, but not heroic fantasy...

Of course, i put a lot of stock in the forwards Lin Carter wrote for the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series (released in the late sixties-early seventies). there may be newer, more informed fantasy writer/scholars out there...

 

[catsclaw227]

neither. ive never read Game of Thrones and I am more into pre-Tolkein fantasy. Tolkein's work doesnt hold a candle to that of Lord Dunsany, E.R. Eddison, A. Merritt, Lovecraft or Mervyn Peake...

Game of Thrones is a very well written series, especially the first three books. It's no wonder the series is considered a masterpiece of modern fantasy. I recommend reading, at least, the first book.

On a side note... I am sure there are a number of highly qualified writers and critics that would disagree with your statement about Tolkein.

by the time Tolkein wrote his books, the heroic fantasy genre was 50 years old, dating back to William Morris in the 1890's. it had been done before, and better...

Fortunately, the definition of better (in this case) is subjective. And just because it is old, doesn't make it better.

 

[Morkul]

Game of Thrones is a very well written series, especially the first three books. It's no wonder the series is considered a masterpiece of modern fantasy. I recommend reading, at least, the first book.

On a side note... I am sure there are a number of highly qualified writers and critics that would disagree with your statement about Tolkein.



Fortunately, the definition of better (in this case) is subjective. And just because it is old, doesn't make it better.

i dont think Tolkein was that great of a writer. he was a linguist. i find LOTR to be overly-descriptive of terrain at times and i really hate the army of the dead saving the day. Gondor should have lost in the end...

none of the LOTR books crack my top ten fantasy novels. the names i mentioned were better writers than Tolkein not because they were writing before him, but because they used words more economically and effectively than Tolkein did...

 

[catsclaw227]

i dont think Tolkein was that great of a writer. he was a linguist. i find LOTR to be overly-descriptive of terrain at times and i really hate the army of the dead saving the day. Gondor should have lost in the end...

I suppose you aren't a Robert Jordan fan either. (I'm not really, I only mention it because of his long winded descriptions.)

none of the LOTR books crack my top ten fantasy novels. the names i mentioned were better writers than Tolkein not because they were writing before him, but because they used words more economically and effectively than Tolkein did...

Now, don't get me wrong, I love HP Lovecraft. But he could get a little overly verbose as well, and you mentioned him as one of your favorites. His descriptive style is what catches me.

Do you like Leiber or other Swords & Sorcery writers? Moorcock?

 

[El Mahdi]

I'm not really, I only mention it because of his long winded descriptions.

...and braid tugging! Don't forget the overabundance of braid tugging...

 

[jonesy]

...and braid tugging! Don't forget the overabundance of braid tugging...

And putting hands on your hips. And glaring. And raising chins. And folding arms. And half-smiling. Giggling girlishly. And turning your back to people. And smoothing skirts. Oh boy.

 

[Morkul]

I suppose you aren't a Robert Jordan fan either. (I'm not really, I only mention it because of his long winded descriptions.)




Now, don't get me wrong, I love HP Lovecraft. But he could get a little overly verbose as well, and you mentioned him as one of your favorites. His descriptive style is what catches me.

Do you like Leiber or other Swords & Sorcery writers? Moorcock?

i have no inclination to tackle Robert Jordan. I actually prefer stories that end in one book...

ya, Lovecraft can be rather wordy in his descriptions. so can Dunsany. but i dig the way they describe things better, especially Dunsany. he had a better grasp on the fantastic than any other writer ive ever read...

ya, i dig Leiber, especially that book Gather, Darkness! never read any Moorcock...

 

[Morkul]

i have no inclination to tackle Robert Jordan. I actually prefer stories that end in one book...

ya, Lovecraft can be rather wordy in his descriptions. so can Dunsany. but i dig the way they describe things better, especially Dunsany. he had a better grasp on the fantastic than any other writer ive ever read...

ya, i dig Leiber, especially that book Gather, Darkness! never read any Moorcock...

i agree with what this guy said here. i tried to read the Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer. got to about 100 pages from the end of the fourth book and Cyrano de Bergerac (my favorite character) dies. i put it down. continuing to decipher the dialogue of a Titanthrop speaking with a lisp did not appeal to me at all. i sold them on ebay...

 

[El Mahdi]

So you agree with yourself as if you're two seperate people...?

No wonder you like Lovecraft.

 

[catsclaw227]

i have no inclination to tackle Robert Jordan. I actually prefer stories that end in one book...

ya, Lovecraft can be rather wordy in his descriptions. so can Dunsany. but i dig the way they describe things better, especially Dunsany. he had a better grasp on the fantastic than any other writer ive ever read...

ya, i dig Leiber, especially that book Gather, Darkness! never read any Moorcock...

i agree with what this guy said here. i tried to read the Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer. got to about 100 pages from the end of the fourth book and Cyrano de Bergerac (my favorite character) dies. i put it down. continuing to decipher the dialogue of a Titanthrop speaking with a lisp did not appeal to me at all. i sold them on ebay...

I was thinking Morkul has two site IDs and uses them both at different times? Maybe he forgot he was logged in as his previous alias.